Eider Da Cruz Bags Runaway Chip Lead After Day 1d of Event #4
Day 1d of Event #4: $400 NLH $500,000 Guaranteed has now come to an end here at The Lodge Poker Club in Round Rock, Texas after seven and a half hours of play. Day 1d attracted 270 entries and ended with 33 players remaining (12% of the field).
Emerging as the chip leader at the end of the night was Eider Da Cruz of Gardena, CA who bagged a whopping 506,000 which is more than 100,000 clear of the chip leaders of the previous Day 1s. Da Cruz had a big stack throughout the day and really catapulted into the huge chip lead when he won a crucial hand where he rivered a full house in the last level of the night.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Hometown | Chip Count |
| 1 | Eider Da Cruz | Gardena, CA | 506,000 |
| 2 | Zachary Woodward | Arlington, TX | 383,000 |
| 3 | Tyler Hanberry | Austin, TX | 329,000 |
| 4 | Eric Salazar | Greensboro, NC | 259,000 |
| 5 | Justin Belforti | Medway, MA | 255,000 |
| 6 | Patrick Christensen | Austin, TX | 250,000 |
| 7 | Roger Franco | Austin, TX | 244,000 |
| 8 | Hieu Tran | Amarillo, TX | 209,000 |
| 9 | Salim Salem | Austin, TX | 206,000 |
| 10 | Alejandro Livas | Weslaco, TX | 197,000 |
Zachary Woodward bagged the second biggest chip stack with 383,000 after he had a stellar day. Tyler Hanberry was the only other player to finish with a stack of more than 300,000 as he finished third with 329,000.
In fourth place at the night’s conclusion was a familiar name in the tournament poker world, multi-time WSOP circuit ring winner Eric Salazar who registered late in the day and spun his stack up quickly to end the day with 259,000.
Also bagging was Rocco Smeriglio, who bagged a modest stack of 107,000 but it will feel like heaps to him as he was able to shake aside the disappointment of being the stone bubble boy last night in Day 1b to come back and find a bag tonight.
The 33 players who remained alive at the end of the night will now join those from previous flights who survived an re-emerge for Day 2, which is on Sunday at 2 p.m. local time. If any player wishes to play another Day 1 flight they can and attempt to get another min cash with their best finishing stack advancing to Day 2.
PokerNews will be back at it tomorrow with Day 1e starting at 11 a.m. local time in what is anticipated to be the largest day yet.